


Hands are Distant Lullabies

by mamodewberry



Category: Free!
Genre: Childhood, Day Two When We Were Kids, Getting Together, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Memories, Through the Years, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-04
Updated: 2016-02-04
Packaged: 2018-05-18 03:39:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5896705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mamodewberry/pseuds/mamodewberry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rin feels Sousuke's hands are super important.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hands are Distant Lullabies

**Author's Note:**

> A lot of this was inspired by conversations with @bakapandy and @AleishaDreams on Twitter. 
> 
> There I go titling my SouRin fics after Anberlin again.

“I don’t think you look like a girl.”

Stubbornly, Rin didn’t meet his rescuer’s gaze, long red strands of hair successfully hiding his face. Any second he’d tell him to stop crying like a baby, or worse, _a girl_. He wiped his dripping nose with the back of his hand.

“And if you did, it doesn’t matter because you’re a boy.” 

At that, he did turn his head. The boy was about his height, thicker brows that slanted up a little in worry, eyes the color of the sea. Now having Rin’s attention, the boy offered a messily folded hand cloth out to him. 

Tentatively, Rin reached for the cloth and turned his face away to retain some dignity as he wiped his tears and blew his nose. He paused in giving the cloth back. “Thanks. Uh, I’ll wash it and give it back to you tomorrow.”

“You can keep it. And… you can come sit by me at lunch so those guys won’t bother you anymore.” Briefly he glanced behind them. Maybe to glare at the three bullies he had chased off. When Rin didn’t immediately reply, he reached an arm over and softly gave his back an awkward, encouraging pat. “Okay?” 

Feelings of humiliation dwindled at the touch. A grin made it’s way to his lips. “I’m Matsuoka Rin”

“Yamazaki Sousuke.”

 

* * *

 

They sat side by side after swimming practice, a particular grueling regimen leaving their bodies sore. The sun was high and the cicadas hummed whilst they took drinks from their water bottles. 

Tossing his bottle back into his duffle, Rin registered how close their hands were on the bench. Recently, he had noticed a lot of things about his best friend. 

It had been a few years since they’d been acquainted. Living close was an unexpected advantage. It didn’t take a whole lot of convincing to get Sousuke to join the swim team, either, even if their methods were different. And they fought a lot. 

But with years came physical growth and little by little, Sousuke was passing Rin up. When they met they were nearly the same size, and now he had a good five centimeters over him. His shoulders were wider, chest filling in more. Limbs seeming lankier with his height. These changes were hard to ignore mostly at the pool because they were only in their swimsuits.

Then there were his hands. Which were always visible.

Side by side like this it was easy to see the difference.

Rin hated it and he wasn’t sure why.

Maybe because it was a more prominent proof of how much bigger and stronger Sousuke was?

Sousuke shifted his weight on his arm and the tips of their fingers touched. 

Rin flinched away, mind returning to the present, like he’d been burned. 

He raised a brow, one thicker than before. “What?”

“Nothing!” It was the truth. It really was nothing. A dumb nothing. Yet his eyes wandered to Sousuke’s hand between them again. How much longer were Sousuke’s fingers than his? Could he touch their palms together…? No, that was stupid. Almost as stupid as asking to _hold_ his hand. Weird, even. 

The longer they sat in silence, waiting for the bus that would take their tired bodies home, the more his brain started to think of reasons he could touch Sousuke’s hand. _Should_ touch his hand.

He clicked his teeth. The heat was definitely doing something to his brain. “Hey! We should make a secret handshake.”

“Why?”

“B-because it’d be cool! And best friends have that kind of thing.”

For a moment Sousuke gave a bored expression, then shrugged, giving in. Sometimes Rin could get him to do things like a snap and others not so much. “Right now?”

“We can wait until we get home. I guess. It’s gotta be a secret, remember?”

 

* * *

 

   
When he got his first letter from Sousuke, it finally set in just how far apart they really were.. Transferring to Iwatobi for a year was a short distance in comparison to the sixty-eight hundred kilometers that were now between them. An ocean separating them. 

Sousuke never asked him to stay in Sano. In his quiet sort of way, he encouraged the decision he made. Other than that, didn’t say much at all. 

The letter didn’t say anything about missing him. Just telling Rin how things were back at home, casually like he should know already, then asking how he was. Simple and to the point. Just like Sousuke.

As he read the letter over a second time, he couldn’t help but think of Sousuke hunched over his desk in his room with a pen. Those hands that created the characters. A little sloppy and smeared at the edges, he could imagine the ink staining the side of his larger fists as he moved across the page for each line. Fingers clenching the pen tightly, tendons flexing.

They’d fist bumped at the station in parting the day he left for Iwatobi. Rin was sure he had felt his knuckles tremble.

 

* * *

 

  
Wrists crossed. Hands slapped. Arms overlap. Laughter.

The years they’d spent apart in physical and emotional distance had not changed their reflexes or the atmosphere around them. 

What did change the most was Sousuke. He’d grown into a striking presence; the embodiment of tall, dark, and handsome. Sturdy build, wide shoulders, strong jaw and thick brows. Voice deep and warm like autumn. However, of all things, Rin’s eyes fell to his hands. Those damn hands. 

The feeling he had when he saw their hands next to each other that day those years ago came back while they laughed and caught up in the school yard. He internally tried to define it. Jealousy, maybe? Partially, at least, because no matter how much Rin trained, he’d probably never get to what Sousuke had become. He was still small by comparison. At least these days it was a lot harder to mistake him for a girl. 

Jealousy didn’t explain the urge to want to touch the hands of his best friend. Or why it felt as important as it did.

 

* * *

   
Large, heated palms ran down the length of Rin’s body, heals pausing to press into his sides. 

Spoken and silent confessions held in eyes lead them to their dorm bottom bunk after Sousuke won their butterfly race. In the water, their passions igniting like fire. 

For years he wanted to hold the larger hands, wanting to know what it felt like. It wasn’t until they were unclothed, that he knew exactly why. In youth it would have been for innocent reasons, a sweet gesture of affection. 

Now it was to be ravished and cherished by the hands that proved they had also been eager. Something so powerful shouldn’t be so gentle. Every part of his body tingled and sang in response to the touches, which only encouraged Sousuke to love with every part of his.

 

* * *

   
Morning light cascaded filtered through the blinds. Warm rays touched Rin’s eyelids that should have been opening soon according to the bedside clock. He blinked a few times to rouse. The familiar weight around his waist made him hesitate to get it up like it often did.. Stretching his legs proved a more recent familiarity - three young pugs at their feet, pinning the blankets around their lower bodies

Gently, he brought Sousuke’s sleeping hand to his own and put them together, palm to palm. The large hands he favored were older now, skin drier and calloused. Turning the favored hand over, he thumbed at the distinguished knuckles and life-giving lines then came to the silver band on his ring finger, fiddled with it until the etched pattern was forward. 

The motion was enough to wake Sousuke, and his hand twitched to life in Rin’s hold. His fingers then clasped around Rin’s, rotating their entwined hands to bring his spouse’s band up to his lips.


End file.
